The Cure
by Muggle of Wilmington
Summary: AU. When Max is diagnosed with a terminal illness, her father offers her a possible cure- this cure, though, might not be a chance worth taking.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Deep, so-dark-they-look-black, eyes, and warm breath on my face- this is what I wake up to nearly every morning. I love having someone in bed with me to cuddle every night; it only sucks when he hogs the bed and blankets.

I am obviously talking about my best, most loyal friend- Fang, my sweet boxer (he's of course named for Hagrid's dog in _Harry Potter_). Right now, he's leaning over me, a paw on either side of my face and, disgustingly, already drooling. I love my dog to death, but he can be so nasty. He _is_ more pleasant to wake up to than an alarm clock, though.

"Morning, buddy," I said, scratching behind his ears the way he loves. "Go wake Ella up!"

Being quite a smart dog, Fang immediately jumps off the bed and across the hall to my twin sister's room. Seconds later, I hear a high- pitched shriek emanating from her room, and I know she just received her morning helping of dog drool.

Now that I feel pretty happy, I hop out of bed, amble over to my closet, and pick my clothes for the day. It always takes me so long to get ready; I have to get just the right outfit to impress all the boys. Ha-ha, just kidding; honestly, I'm probably about as high-maintenance as a lumberjack (Ella says I dress like one.) I just would rather be comfortable and not dress like hooker or wear clown make-up.

After pulling a comfy flannel shirt and jeans and sneakers on I head downstairs to have breakfast, knowing I have a long wait ahead of me. Since Dad always has to go into work early, it's my duty to make sure Ella and I arrive at school on time; because Ella _absolutely has to_ blow-dry and straighten her hair every single freaking morning and agonize over what outfit she'll wear, we have to wake up early. We nearly miss the bus many mornings anyway. I couldn't wait until I turned sixteen in a couple of months and could get my drivers' license.

We ride the short bus daily; it's because we go to a fairly small charter school. I actually like it there. Sure, most kids there are smarter than me, but it's easier for me to make friends in a smaller group. When I climb aboard the bus, Ella and I go our separate ways, her to her group of girly-girls, and me to my girly-boy, Sam. Ever seen _Glee_? Well, Sam's a lot like Kurt- fabulous and a kick-ass, true friend.

"Morning Max!" he says cheerily, offering me a muffin. _Thank you Sam,_ I think, taking a huge bite out of the muffin. He knows Dad's gone most mornings, and that I suck at cooking, so he often brings me food from his house.

"Looking forward to Chemistry?" he asks.

"Heck yes!" I honestly am too. Today is the day for presenting our science projects; me being a huge science nerd, a.k.a., intellectual badass, I highly anticipate this each year. This time, I've made a tesla coil- this is basically a conductor of electricity. Ever seen those plasma balls that if you put your hand on it, it looks like lightning is connected to your hand? It looks like one of those attached to a huge metal pole. I really worked so hard on this project and I'm dying to win; it also will give me a cash prize. My dad makes good money as a computer technician, but it's still hard being a single parent of two teenagers.

As soon as I arrive at school, I wave good-bye to Sam, hurry off the bus, and to the gym, where my project is being kept. It's flipping _huge_, so I decided to work on it after school in the gym instead of bringing it home.

I'm in such a rush, I don't even notice the person in the hallway, trying to open his locker before I run into him; I knock him down and hear his breath knocked out of him with a _whoosh_.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I exclaim, jumping up and offering him a hand. _Thank you God_, I think as he accepts it and stands up; I had been worried that he might have hit his head or been otherwise seriously injured. I hadn't been hurt at all- he was a great cushion.

"It's fine," he grumbles, as we stoop over to pick his books up off the ground that I had knocked out of his hand.

"Hey, are you new?" Our school's pretty small, so I'm sure I couldn't have just not noticed him. He was fairly attractive… all right, that's an understatement. He was pretty _hot_, with his swoopy black hair, gorgeous dark brown eyes, and olive-toned skin. He definitely fit the "tall, dark, and handsome" stereotype.

"Yeah, my mom got a good job offer here; I'm from Fort Worth. My name's Nick," he said quietly. Okay, so maybe he was shy; I guess it's presumptuous, but guys as hot as him usually have more confidence. He seemed kind of awkward, out of place.

"I'm Max. I've got to go check on something right now, but maybe we could see each other later?" I asked him. If he's as shy as he seems, maybe he would appreciate it if I showed him around and introduced him to my friends.

"Alright; I'd really like that," he said giving me a small smile.

"I'll see you later!" I called after him as he walked away. The thought of that made me strangely happy.

I stepped into the gym just to check on my project one last time before presentations; I know it's paranoid, but I really want everything to be perfect. After an inspection, I determined that all was in order, and I made myself go to my first block class. It wouldn't really do me any good to be stressed out while presenting to the judges.

Classes today went by really fast- not just because they were shortened so we would have plenty of time to present either. We had presentations directly before lunch. At the end of our first couple of classes, we all went back to the gym. Since I basically go to nerd school, everybody competes in Science Fair.

I was so nervous; my palms were sweating, and my stomach felt as if it were twisted into a knot. I'm always bad with being charming or friendly to strangers, so the judging was terrifying enough, especially since it's so important to me. In fact, my anxiety seemed to be even worse than usual; I felt light-headed and as though I might throw up at any moment. I saw Sam standing by his experiment; he must have noticed my distress because he began coming towards me.

Unfortunately, the first round of judges approached me at this time. Black spots swam before my eyes, and I felt even dizzier than before. I tried to walk up to the woman who seemed to be in charge and to ask if I could have another moment.

Turns out, I couldn't make it that far. I stumbled and fell straight forward. I tried to catch myself as I fell, but my limbs just weren't operating right.

The last thing I remember before passing out is the sound of people's screams.


End file.
